By Francisco Salazar
He may have been down, but don’t call him out.
Andrew Cancio may have stumbled a bit in recent fights, but the featherweight believes he still has a lot to offer in the division.
Cancio faces fringe contender Rene Alvarado tonight at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. The 10 round bout will open the Estrella TV telecast, which begins at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.
Cancio (15-3-2, 11 KOs) has not fought since April of last year, losing a close 10 round decision to Ronny Rios. He clarified some personal issues before returning to the gym months ago in Ventura, Calif, where he currently trains and resides in.
He faces a strong fighter in Alvarado, who has had mixed results in recent fights, including a 10 round decision loss to Joseph Diaz in July and a ninth round technical knockout win over contender Robinson Castellanos in February of last year.
“He (Alvarado) is strong and he comes forward,” Cancio told Boxingscene.com recently. “He has a decent punch and he’s been in there with some pretty good fighters. He beat Robinson Castellanos for the title. I expect him to be in shape, but I’m going to be in shape as well. I always do.”
“Stylistically, the matchup is great for both of us. I think the crowd is going to get a real good fight. I’m in shape and I feel good. I know I have a long layoff, but my sparring (for this fight) has been great. Hopefully, we could carry it on over into the fight. We come out with the ‘W.’ I feel like we’re going to be able to outbox him a little bit. And if not, we can go inside on him as well. We’re going to do both and see what works out. We’re ready to go to 10 rounds. It will be a war.”
Since moving to Ventura, Cancio is being trained by Danny Garcia, the older brother of Robert Garcia.
Cancio has seen a noticeable improvement with his skill-set and believes he can make a run at the top contenders in the division.
“He (Danny Garcia) has taught me a lot,” said Cancio, who resides in Blythe, a two-hour drive from Indio. “Great things. One of my best fights was against (Jerry) Belmontes. Nobody got to see the work that we put in for him. We beat him up real good and ever since then, he hasn’t been able to get up on his feet.”
“With Ronny Rios, I felt it was a real close fight. I don’t think it was a unanimous decision the way they (the judges) had it. We worked on things from that fight that we didn’t see we did wrong. Hopefully, we get by Rene Alvarado real good and hopefully we’ll go after a rematch with Ronny Rios.”
“We’ll see what happens. Right now, I’m glad to be back in the ring.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
